What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

Created: 12/26/15

Replies: 25

Posted Dec. 26, 2015
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davinamw

Join Date: 10/15/10

Posts: 1411

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What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension? What was your response to Robert's reaction when he found out?

Posted Jan. 01, 2016
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joanew

Join Date: 12/27/13

Posts: 5

RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

Grace was a very ethical woman and even though she knew her situation her need to help others came first.

Posted Jan. 01, 2016
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deeh

Join Date: 03/03/12

Posts: 186

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RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

It was completely within Grace's character to continue to help those women to whom she had promised a home delivery. I think Robert's reaction was due to the fact he was facing loss of income and resented Grace's apparent indifference to the law.

Posted Jan. 01, 2016
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Maggie

Join Date: 01/01/16

Posts: 92

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RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

I was not surprised. These were her ladies that were depending on her. I was sorry her husband gave her such a hard time but he was also going through a lot.

Posted Jan. 01, 2016
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dorothyh

Join Date: 01/23/15

Posts: 83

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RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

She did what she needed to do to help some one in need

Posted Jan. 02, 2016
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terriej

Join Date: 07/28/11

Posts: 142

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RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

I understood her passion, but feel that she overstepped her boundaries.

Posted Jan. 02, 2016
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Brenda

Join Date: 01/02/16

Posts: 3

RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

I felt that she responded in a manner in which she was trained as a sincere and compassionate midwife. She knew the consequences of her actions and was willing to take the risk for her patient and the baby.

Posted Jan. 02, 2016
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rosemarys

Join Date: 05/29/11

Posts: 24

RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

I was mad that she would risk everything, but completely understood why she couldn't be indifferent to the patients who were terrified of going to the hospital. As a caring, committed midwife she made promises she felt she needed to keep in order for the patient's to have the best experience possible. She also had a very strong aversion to medical doctors, who dismissed the need for midwives. Grace's generation had experienced such bias by many medical doctors, so she felt the need to make her patients deliver as planned.

Posted Jan. 02, 2016
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andreab

Join Date: 07/29/14

Posts: 89

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RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

Her decision to continue to see her patients was in keeping with her beliefs. She had a disdain for OB/GYN's that she shared/fostered with her patients. She was not going to abandon them when they needed her most. She took a huge risk and endangered her family's financial future but I don't think she gave it a second thought.

Posted Jan. 02, 2016
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kimk

Join Date: 10/16/10

Posts: 295

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RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

I think it was great that she helped out when the need was critical, but at the same time I think she should have gotten others to take her caseload when it became clear that she wasn't allowed to be practicing. It didn't seem to me that she even tried to find an alternate midwife for those with a due date further out, and that exposed her family to unnecessary risk.

Posted Jan. 03, 2016
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joyces

Join Date: 06/16/11

Posts: 403

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RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

I think Grace felt she had no choice though she was totally aware of the risks. She took her commitment to the pregnant women in her care very seriously and could not abandon them at a very important and emotional time. She was not only a dedicated midwife but a strong willed person as well and she stood by her principles.

Posted Jan. 04, 2016
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wendyf

Join Date: 05/11/11

Posts: 20

RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

I felt that Grace was doing the right thing. She did not want to abandon her clients nor did she want to force them to rely on someone that they were not comfortable with.

Posted Jan. 04, 2016
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dianem

Join Date: 10/25/12

Posts: 65

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RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

It took a lot of courage to do that but her dedication to her patients came first. She knew these people needed her.

Posted Jan. 05, 2016
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Retired Reader, NE

Join Date: 09/16/11

Posts: 165

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RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

I felt it was very irresponsible of Grace to openly disregard the rules. Her actions were very immature. She put not only her own career and livelihood in jeopardy, but also her husband's. I smelled lawsuit.

Posted Jan. 05, 2016
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louisee

Join Date: 06/29/15

Posts: 79

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RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

I was not surprised by her decision to continue to deliver babies secretly because she was a very stubborn woman. I don't recall her giving her patients the option of using another midwife when her license was suspended. I would think that midwives have arrangements with other midwives as backup. She was so into being a midwife that she had no regard for her husband, their life together, and the consequences if she got caught.

Posted Jan. 05, 2016
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kimk

Join Date: 10/16/10

Posts: 295

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RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

I agree, Louisee. I think this part of the story bothered me the most. Not only did she allow her personal desires to cloud her judgment, but what she was doing was downright illegal. She's lucky she didn't get sued or arrested for tax evasion.

Posted Jan. 06, 2016
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Beachgirl

Join Date: 01/06/16

Posts: 6

RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

I think Grace made the best decision under the circumstances she found herself. Grace had committed to her clients, and one of the reasons to choose employing a midwife as opposed to hospital delivery is to have a relationship with the person who is going to deliver your baby. I found her husband very irritating, it seemed that he did not put much weight on Grace’s devotion to her clients and put a lot of pressure on her due to his own less than stable position in the workforce.

Posted Jan. 06, 2016
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josephinej

Join Date: 05/11/15

Posts: 26

RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

I think it was very courageous of her, and I also think she felt she didn't have any choice - the women were under her care, and to abandon them in their hour of need would be unthinkable. Some commenters have mentioned her not thinking about Robert in making this decision; but I think she did think about the money. It was a short-term thinking, however, as if she had been caught she would have lost her license and her ability to earn. But I felt it was all in keeping with her character.

Posted Jan. 06, 2016
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dorothyl

Join Date: 04/15/12

Posts: 92

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RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

i didn't think it was the right decision because she was being irresponsible and risking too much even though I understood her motives. If she had not done this, there really wouldn't be much of a story.

Posted Jan. 08, 2016
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jeanettel

Join Date: 01/05/12

Posts: 53

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RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

Grace loved so much what she did, her profession, her ladies and they in turn trusted her so completely that it would have been against her nature not to run and help one of her customers at the moment of delivery. She believed 100% in her abilities and knowledge and trusted her ladies with her eyes closed.

Posted Jan. 10, 2016
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cynthiao

Join Date: 08/31/15

Posts: 14

RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

She risk everything she had and was to continue. This could have been a horrible decision.

Posted Jan. 11, 2016
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Navy Mom

Join Date: 04/12/12

Posts: 213

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RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

I knew she had to close of a relationship with those mothers and that she could never just drop them like that. That totally seemed in character for Grace. It was risky, though. And I didn't get why the husband wasn't more supportive. He seemed so loving and caring to Neva.

Posted Jan. 12, 2016
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LindaB.

Join Date: 06/11/14

Posts: 63

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RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

I thought that Grace was put on the spot to help the first lady deliver her child when she refused to go to the hospital and said she would deliver herself. Keeping it from her husband and not following the law was wrong. I also felt bad when Neva covered for her during the investigation.

Posted Jan. 13, 2016
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PiperUp

Join Date: 10/27/15

Posts: 80

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RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

I think it was incredibly risky & that she should've only done it in extreme circumstances like when her daughter went into labor.I understand her husbands reaction. If anything had gone wrong his wife could've ended up in prison. However, I didn't like how he kept reminding her of how much they needed the money. I feel like he made her feel as if she had no choice since they needed the money.

Posted Jan. 19, 2016
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tracyb

Join Date: 09/22/11

Posts: 71

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RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

I agree with everyone who said that this was very risky. Her dislike of the medical hierarchy was always clear and this challenge seemed to ignite a fire in her to keep delivering babies. She was easily drawn in by her emotional relationship with her mothers to be. In my opinion money played a smaller part in her decision.

Posted Jan. 19, 2016
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debbielmc

Join Date: 01/19/16

Posts: 7

RE: What did you think of Grace's decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension?

I was not surprised by this, Grace cared too much for the women she was caring for to leave them in a lurch even though it might cost both her and her husband.